Government Sponsored Misinformation

I get a daily digest from the USPS telling me what mail to expect each day.  I signed up years ago mostly so I'd know when to expect packages (not that the USPS does a phenomenal job of estimating those deliveries), but it also includes scans of the front of most pieces of paper mail.

This morning, I noticed that I was set to receive a Sex Offender Notification Postcard (and I can only assume it was the one about me).  I spent much of the morning stressed out about it.  I just want to be able to live life and now everyone within a 0.3 mile radius from my house has gotten one of these cards.  At the same time, I was curious to see what it said so I'd know what they were being told.

Unfortunately, my copy seems to have disappeared.  Celia came by the house today and was the one that checked the mail and she said that it wasn't there.  That doesn't make any sense, but maybe it got misplaced somewhere.  So, all I could see was the generic front of the card addressed to "Occupant."

Caddo Parish uses the "OffenderWatch Initiative" for their postcards.  I visited their website (assuming that at least some of my neighbors would do the same and was pretty horrified at what I found.  Here's their "Talking to Children About Sex Offenders" page.

Sex crime laws in Louisiana are incredibly broad.  The "Indecent Behavior" law for example (one of my charges) can be applied to anyone who does something they shouldn't in the company of a minor.  With the right judge and prosecutor, this can literally be a crass remark.  I'm sure I'll write more about this in the future, but let's look at what this website says.

Answering your Child’s Questions

Many children will accept your directions for steering clear of the person. Others will have questions. You’ll need to explain further because if you don’t, she’ll find someone else to ask. You want her to get his information from you.

Child: Why was he in prison?
Parent: He hurt a child.

Child: What did he do?
Parent: He touched the child inappropriately.

Child: Did he hit her?
Parent: No, he touched her private area, close to where she goes to the bathroom. That’s not okay, it’s a crime.

Child: Why did he do that?
Parent: Some things you won’t understand until you’re older, and this is one of them. I don’t completely understand it myself.

I'm not even sure where to start.  There are so many assumptions here.  Why are we to assume the offender is male with a female victim?

But, worse, in this of all states, the answers to these questions are likely factually wrong for most offenders, myself included.  I did not hurt a child.  I did not touch anyone--at all.  But, this is the kind of information that the government is giving people about me.  No wonder people assume that all sex offenders are literally child molesters.  The government is propping up trash-can organizations that put out this kind of dreck that has no reasonable connection to the reality of many (if not most) offenders in the area.

How am I supposed to feel like a normal person with value when this is the kind of thing that people are being told?  It is fundamentally unfair, but nobody wants to be the person who sticks up for sex offenders.  Maybe, once I've gotten my life together (as much as arbitrary social and legal restrictions will allow), I'll be that person.  I'm already wearing the Scarlet Letter, so why not embrace it and tell the uncomfortable truth?